Fateful Day At The Zoo
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Oneshot that follows Rangers In Love - As promised, Mia takes Emily to the zoo, and the whole team tags along with them. But Mia's not feeling well and she's "late". After the incident, could this be early signs of a pregnancy?


Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: (Super) Samurai. This is purely fan-made.

Author's Note: For the people who have me on Author/Story Alert, sorry for the multiple emails. I'm having a little trouble with this story.

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Emily loved the zoo. Maybe it was because it gave her a chance to be surrounded by animals she didn't normally get to see, even on a farm. Maybe it was the cute animals in general and watching them play and sometimes even interact with the crowd. Maybe it was because it was fun heading out as a group for a day.

Or maybe it was because finally, everyone was getting along.

The house had been very rocky for the last couple of weeks. Since _the incident_, everyone had either been screaming at each other, or walking around like they were stepping on broken glass, and one misstep could cause complete and utter chaos. Kevin had been the angriest, but no one in the house could say they didn't have any part in the drama. Emily was just glad it was all over with now. Things weren't completely back to normal, but they were headed there. Everyone had agreed to put the past behind them.

It wasn't an easy thing to do, though. After _the incident,_ repairing the broken friendships was going to be difficult. Mike and Kevin had a hard time looking each other in the eye, Emily and Jayden were afraid of getting too close to each other, Serena kept a watchful eye on how Mike was treating Emily, Mia still felt a tremendous amount of guilt for everything she had done, and couldn't stand the thought of being alone in a room with Mike for more than a minute. It was all still very awkward.

But less so at the zoo, at least, for everyone but Mia. While Emily was bouncing along excitedly, asking about where they would go first, Mia was trailing behind. She felt sick to her stomach.

Everything about her body hurt: but her legs, her back, and her stomach especially. She had no appetite to eat anything, but she was starving.

As she had promised Emily, Mike, and Kevin, every day she took a pregnancy test. Every day she would take one until the test came back positive, or she had her period. Neither had happened yet, and it was causing her to worry.

She was late. Officially, now, her period should have started. And she was no longer just a couple days late. She was _late_. And with the pain starting up, and the increase/decrease in appetite, as well as a few bouts of nausea, she had reasons to be concerned.

But she held her head up high and decided to enjoy the day, assuming she had only two paths to take now: either she was pregnant, and her body was letting her know early on that she was in for hell for the rest of her life, or she was getting her period, and all this pain would pay off when she saw the smiles on Mike's, Emily's, and Kevin's faces when they realized they weren't expecting a baby.

If it was the latter, Mia had no reason to worry. If it was the former, she wanted her friends to enjoy one more day of bliss and togetherness before all hell broke loose again. Though everyone had promised to keep a cool head if the test did come back positive and Mia found herself pregnant, she knew not to hold anyone to their word.

"I want to save the gorillas for last," Emily announced and reached a map of the zoo. She looked at it wide eyed and Mia found herself smiling a little. She did so no matter how she was feeling when she saw a smile on Kevin's or Emily's faces. They had been hurt the most and it was nice to see they were finally coming back. She touched her hand to her stomach and hoped they could stay happy for a long time.

"You're lucky Mentor knows a guy," Mike smirked and shoved his hands in his pockets. Getting too close to Emily still felt very strange to him. He was holding her more often and giving her a few quick kisses, but it was hard being so close to her knowing he had betrayed her. Though it wasn't his fault in the slightest, he felt like it was. He knew he wasn't the only one, though. Mia and Kevin kept their distance from each other, and they looked like it would stay that way for a little while.

"Hopefully the gorilla is friendly," Jayden chuckled, "We don't need to lose a Ranger to a bizarre gorilla accident. How will we explain that to the Nighlok? 'I know you've been spending nearly two years trying to kill us and you've failed every time, but now we're down a Ranger because we went to the zoo and a gorilla wasn't fond of yellow.'"

"Or too fond," Serena said with a laugh, "I'm worried the gorilla will be too friendly and will hug a little too tight."

"She's tougher than she looks," Kevin smiled and placed a hand on Emily's shoulder, "I'm still bruised from when you tackled me."

Mia chuckled. Though it hadn't been funny at the time, looking back, the moment was pretty hilarious. She had been trying to talk to Kevin and get through to him about what had happened and how she felt about it when Kevin lost his cool. He had gotten a little too close to Mia with his hot-temper and had, in a way, threatened to hurt her. Though he never would, and to this day promised the thought of laying a hand on her hadn't crossed his mind, the day of, Emily hadn't been willing to risk it. She had seen Kevin losing control and had dropped him on the mat face first, nearly breaking his nose. Watching the scene in her mind over and over again of little Emily taking out the biggest and strongest Samurai on the team was really funny.

"Who knew my knight in shining armour was yellow?" Mia wrapped her arms around Emily's shoulders and then looked to Kevin. She was only teasing him and he knew it, but he still pretended to be hurt.

"After all those other times I save you, you're trading me in for the little firecracker that saved you from a dragon that wouldn't have touched you."

"You do command the dragon Zord," Mike nodded his head. "When you think about it… you can't be the knight or else you would slay yourself."

"I still have to kill you, remember?" Kevin glared at Mike. The green Ranger nodded his head and shut up.

Jayden pointed to the map, "Anyways, the jungle cats are right around the corner. Why don't we start with the lions and take it from there?"

The team nodded their heads in agreement and started for the lion exhibit. Halfway there, Mia had to stop. She gestured for the team to go on without her, promising she would catch up quickly. They wanted to wait for her, but she told them she didn't sleep well the night before and just needed to take a breather before the exciting day. The Rangers either bought the lie, or were too excited to wait. They all set off to enjoy the day except for Kevin. He hung back with Mia.

"You can tell me anything," he told her and sat down beside her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not feeling well," Mia shook her head and wiped her eyes. She had no idea why, but suddenly she felt she needed to cry. Kevin saw this and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's been crazy around here lately."

"You know I'm late, right?"

Kevin swallowed and then nodded his head. This was hard for Mia, but it wasn't easy for him either. Right now he was waiting to see if his fiancée's firstborn would be his best friend's child. Though he promised to work through it with Mia, it would be a hard blow to take. He loved her too much to leave her, but he couldn't spend his entire life remembering _the incident_.

"That doesn't mean anything yet," he hugged her; "The pregnancy tests are still negative, right?"

"Yeah. I'd have told you if they weren't."

"We might get lucky. Don't let this bring you down."

"How can I not?" Mia was sobbing into Kevin's shoulder at this point, "I don't want to raise a kid with Mike, I want to raise one with you. I want a normal family, Kevin. Nothing about this is normal."

"I love you, Mia…"

"Not if I'm pregnant with Mike's kid," Mia pulled away from Kevin and shook her head. Then she looked him in the eyes and sighed, "I know it. I know you. You'll try, you'll really try to get used to it… but it's not going to work. It'll never work out for me. If there is a kid in there, it's all over. My dream, my life… it'll all be ruined and I'll have no one to blame but myself…"

"I love you," Kevin gently held Mia's face in his hands, forcing her to look at him, "Right now, in this very moment, I love you with all my heart. I hate what you did, and I hate the situation you and Mike and the Nighlok put us in, but I love you. As long as I do, I will fight for things to work out for us. Maybe it won't be a normal family, but you will find happiness, I promise."

"Yeah, if there is a man out there who will love me and my ex-fiancé's best friend's kid…?"

"Stop it, Mia. You're being ridiculous."

"I know what's going to happen, Kevin. I know what you're going to do…"

"You can't possibly know what I'm going to do because I don't know myself," he shook his head, "but I'm promising you I'll do everything I can to make sure we survive this. Don't you dare start looking for another man."

"I don't want another man."

"I love you," Kevin pulled Mia in for a kiss – their first since _the incident_. When they pulled away, he took her hand and smiled at her, "Ignorance is bliss, right? If you're feeling up to it, why don't we pretend nothing ever happened and have the time of our lives today? We'll deal with the future when it comes."

"I love you too, Kevin."

-Samurai-

"This is officially the best day, _ever_!" Emily was bouncing with excitement as she stood before Gloria the Gorilla. Because of his contacts, Ji managed to set up a private event at the zoo for the Rangers where they would meet one of the gorillas. The zookeeper responsible for Gloria assured the Samurai that she was friendly and gentle. She had grown up in the zoo and around humans and knew how to behave around them, as long as the Samurai behaved around her.

At the end of their visit, Emily gave the gorilla a big hug. Gloria hugged her back, lifting her off her feet and then planting a very wet kiss onto Emily's cheek. Serena had a mini-heart attack as she watched, first fearing the hug would snap her sister in half, and then fearing Gloria was going to bite Emily's face off with the kiss.

"That would be awesome, though," Antonio nudged Serena, seeing her looking a little pale. "Tragic, but awesome."

"Until we explain to the Nighlok that a gorilla accomplished what they've failed to do," Jayden smirked.

Like a worried mother, Serena tried to quickly pull Emily away from Gloria now that the visit was over; fearing Emily was pushing her luck.

"C'mon, I sure Gloria wants to get back to her family."

Emily pouted and turned to Gloria with a big smile and excitedly waved goodbye. Serena grabbed her arm and pulled her away. Then she looked over her shoulder and saw Gloria sticking her tongue out at Serena.

"Hey!" Serena cried. She pulled Emily behind her and then stuck her tongue out at the gorilla, "She's my sister, I get to take her home!"

Then, Gloria did a gesture she must have learned from visitors at the zoo, causing Serena to gasp, grab Emily again and drag her off, with the others laughing hysterically behind her.

"You rock, Gloria!" Mike called as he walked out, "I'm sure we could have been great friends."

When the Rangers were back outside, Serena huffed, "I officially hate monkeys."

"It's a gorilla," Emily corrected her, "and she and I were bonding."

"She was going to rip your face off."

"Nahuh, she's gentle. You're just jealous because she's the second ape to like me better than you."

"Ape Zord only prefers you because you're the true yellow Ranger. It's programmed to like you better."

"Jealous!"

Serena gently shoved her sister, "I don't like this monkey anymore either."

Emily pretended to be hurt, but then something caught her eye. It was the end of the day and they were back at the entrance of the zoo, which meant only one thing: the gift shop. After everything that had happened, and knowing there was still a lot of guilt from Mike and Mia, Emily knew she would be able to convince them to buy her something. Like a bullet, she raced inside the shop.

"Someone had a good day," Antonio laughed and then grabbed Jayden by the arm and tugged, "C'mon, you can buy me a funny t-shirt!"

"You're paying your own way," Jayden shook his head. Antonio disagreed.

"You remember that time the Nighlok put everyone under a spell but me, and I had to watch as you and Emily practically swallowed each other whole? My memory's a little fuzzy, but I think I remember you having a boyfriend at the time too. What was his name…?"

"I'll get you a shirt," Jayden grumbled as he was pulled into the store.

Mike chuckled and followed them in, "I should go before Emily falls in love with every plush toy."

"Maybe I should pick something up for Terran," Serena smiled. Mia and Kevin gave her a strange look. She just shrugged, "What? Just because I'm keeping my distance, doesn't mean I can't still let him know I love him. There is such thing as mail."

"You realize he's just a baby, right? He won't ever remember this," Kevin pointed out. Serena shrugged.

"Yeah, but I will, and I'll live with that guilt for the rest of my life. So excuse me while I go spoil my little man from a distance."

Mia and Kevin watched her go and then Kevin turned to Mia, "Uh, speaking of guilt…"

Mia's eyes suddenly widened, "I have to go."

"What? Where?"

"Bathroom."

"Why?" Kevin asked but Mia darted off, much faster than he had ever seen her run. Not wanting to stand around alone like an idiot, and assuming she would know to look for him in the gift shop once she came back, Kevin walked inside. Jayden was standing by the rack of clothes as Antonio looked for the perfect shirt, muttering something about dolphins.

Jayden turned to Kevin, seeing he was alone, "Where's Mia?"

"Bathroom," Kevin said, "She hasn't been feeling well all day."

"All day?" Emily asked, hugging an armful of plush toys as she came over. "Mia's been feeling sick? Like what kind of sick?"

"Stomach pain, back pain, leg pain, tired, kind of nauseous…"

Hearing this, Emily dropped all the toys and raced out of the gift shop. Through the glass doors, the boys could see her running into the bathroom.

"Mia!" Emily cried as she pushed her way into the bathroom and skipped over the line. All the women waiting gave her a dirty look, assuming she was cutting, but Emily ignored them.

She heard one of the many toilets flushing and waited eagerly to see if it was Mia coming out. When she did, Emily started feeling sick herself.

"Mia?" she asked again as Mia walked to the sink and washed her hands. Then, as she grabbed a paper towel she looked to Emily, a big, bright smile on her face.

"Guess who finally got her period."

Emily's face lit up and she threw herself into Mia's arms, knocking her back against the wall from the force. Mia groaned, very tender in all parts of her body, and from hitting the wall, but that didn't erase the smile from her face.

"A little late," the woman washing her hands beside the two Samurai commented a little rudely. It had been hot out so she was naturally a little grumpy and uncomfortable. But Mia just continued to smile.

"Better late than never."

"C'mon, we have to tell the boys!" Emily was yanking on Mia's arm as she dragged the pink Ranger out of the bathroom. Some of the women waiting in line looked to each other strangely.

"I will never understand what goes on in some people's heads."

Mia chuckled as she and Emily left the bathroom. No matter how fast she tried to walk, Emily still managed to pull her along. Naturally, she was excited by the news, and an excited Emily was a very hyper Emily. When they got in the store, Emily saw the others waiting for her and Mia. She let go of Mia and raced into Mike's arms.

"You're not a daddy!"

Mike breathed a huge sigh of relief and hugged Emily tight. He would love any and all of his children, no matter where they came from, but he couldn't imagine raising a child who also belonged to Mia. This was the best thing to happen to him all day, even topping Gloria the Gorilla giving Serena the middle finger.

Mia announced the news for herself officially and the others cheered and congratulated her while Kevin pulled her into his arms. She could feel a few of his tears soaking her shirt and knew just how relieved he was to hear the good news.

"Still love me?" she asked.

He nodded his head, "I never stopped. Congratulations, Mia. You can still get your normal, happy life."

"I'm sorry I put you through all this…"

"It was the Nighlok," he shook his head and then gave Mia their second kiss since _the incident_. Things were going to be okay.

Then, Mia pulled away and hugged her stomach. She looked a little pale and uncomfortable.

"Can we get what we want and go home, now?" she asked. "As happy as I am, all I want to do now is curl up into a little ball and die."


End file.
